She has a type
by almondina
Summary: As the TARDIS departs Bad Wolf Bay for the final time, she takes her translation circuit with her. They hadn't thought about that.


"Well, your father's sendin' a taxi round for us. We can spend the night at the hotel up aways, you remember the one. Tomorrow mornin', we'll catch the first zeppelin over." Jackie Tyler looked at the slightly teary dazed expression on her daughter and the somber concern on the face of this new Doctor. Oh this was going to be lovely. "All right, no need to beat 'round the bush as they say, you lot want one room or two?"

"Mum!" Jackie hid a smile as the life sparked back into Rose's eyes. Always knew how to rile that girl.

"Oh, come off it. It's a reasonable question, Rose. I need to text your father back. Are we getting three rooms or two?" Jackie looked at the Doctor, expecting him to start sputtering and rambling, but he was watching Rose, still looking worried. She sighed and started texting her husband, "Listen, I'll just have 'im get two but have one of 'em have the two beds. Where you all sleep - or don't sleep -" Rose made some sort of undignified indignant screech at this. "Will be up to you." She paused and gestured at Rose with her phone. "And don't get all uppity with me. You're the one was snoggin' him out in the open like that." She went back to finish her text.

"I was only - I mean, that was - Listen, Mum, you can't just -"

"And what's wrong with you anyway?" Jackie asked the Doctor, putting her phone back in her pocket. "I think you might have said more when you were in that coma thing at Christmas." That got his attention. He grinned at her.

But when he opened his mouth to speak, what came out was complete nonsense. It wasn't even like anything Jackie had ever even heard before. She couldn't tell if he was speaking, singing or having some sort of stroke. She looked at Rose.

"What's wrong with 'im?"

"Doctor?" Rose placed her hand on his arm and looked up at him, her brow wrinkling with concern. The Doctor looked at them in confusion and spoke again.

It was definitely different than the last time - much shorter - but still completely nonsensical.

"Oh my God," Rose clasped a hand over her mouth. "The translation circuit. Mum, the TARDIS translates languages in your head. It stopped working when we got trapped here the first time. He's cut off, so -"

"Are you tellin' me that he doesn't speak English?! Oh bloody hell, we're gonna have to get a tutor or somethin'. And how are we supposed to communicate 'till then?"

"I'm sorry! I thought he knew how! I mean, he said he knew it, but maybe -"

"Oh now who's the rude one, Rose Tyler? Of course I know English. I'm fluent in almost five billion languages. I just... forgot for a moment there."

"You forgot how to speak English?" Jackie asked. Something was slightly off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Oh, um, no. Well, I can see how you could have assumed - er, no, I forgot TO speak English. Gotten a bit lazy 'cause of the translation thing. Sorry." The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"...Doctor?"

"Yes, Rose?"

"What's with the accent?"

"What?"

"That's it!" Jackie exclaimed. "I couldn't figure out what was off! You sound Scottish now!"

"No, Scots sound Gallifreyan," the Doctor grinned.

"Why didn't y'sound like that before?"

"Translation circuit. Well, that and the TARDIS gets in moods about accents. I think she gets tired of hearing me talk. Apparently you said I sounded Northern before?"

"Yeah, in your last bod- well, second-to-last bod... no, that's not quite right either. Um.. when you wore leather," Rose finished finally.

"I had no idea until you told me. People don't usually mention any accent. ...I wonder if she's given me others I don't know about." The Doctor noticed Jackie looking at him with a slight smirk and Rose not quite meeting his eyes. "What? Is it that bad? Sorry, I mean I can switch -"

"NO!"

Rose's loud outburst startled the Doctor and he just kind of stared at her in alarm.

"Right then," he said, sounding a bit squeaky and looking a bit frightened. Rose turned bright red.

"I mean, no, I don't think you should have to change anything. You know, change anything about you at.. at all."

"Rose has a thing for Scottish accents," Jackie supplied helpfully.

"MUM!"

"Oh, really?" the Doctor grinned, turning to look at Rose with the same extremely-pleased-yet-still-smug expression he'd had when she'd admitted creating the dimension cannon to come back to him.

"Bet you're real glad I only got the two rooms now," Jackie muttered to Rose.

"Mum, why are you suddenly so interested in my love life?" Rose hissed, dragging her mother away from the Doctor by the elbow. "And last I checked, you were very much against the idea of me and him shagging. I seem to remember a lecture about getting knocked up with dozens of tiny alien babies."

"Last you checked was before you were stuck here without himself for four years. And honestly, it's been what, close to six for you total? Oh don't give me that look, I know what all went on with you and Mickey. So, I say this not as your mum but as a fellow woman - you really need to get laid."

"Oh my God, Mum, if you ever say anything like this in front of the Doctor, I swear -"

"Hi, sorry to interrupt," the Doctor called over loudly. "I just wanted to point out that I'm still mostly Time Lord. So I still have my frankly magnificent superior biology and that includes my hearing."

"Oh bloody hell," Rose muttered. The Doctor tugged on his ear and looked out over the water, his cheeks tinged a faint pink hue. A faint buzzing noise interrupted the awkward silence.

Jackie pulled her vibrating phone out of her pocket and glanced down at it. "Taxi's here. C'mon you two." She walked past the Doctor, pausing to mutter something to him, and out towards the road.

The Doctor walked over to Rose.

"You all right?" he asked, worried that the teasing had gotten out of hand.

"Yeah," she sighed. Rose shook her head to clear her thoughts and grinned up at him. "Yeah, sorry. Just a long day."

"Oh, you don't need to apologize to me, Rose Tyler." Rose laughed. "What?"

"Never thought I'd hear you say that again - you always did love using my full name - and now it's... you're here and you're saying it and..." Rose trailed off and gave a watery laugh. "It's just been a really long, strange day."

"Come on, let's get you to the hotel and into bed." Rose sputtered a bit, but the Doctor just laughed. "Ignore your mother's teasing. What you really need is to get some sleep. I'm not going anywhere, so anything else can wait. Tomorrow you'll be feeling refreshed and awake and you can tell me all about your life here while we're on the zeppelin. And maybe where I might fit in. If you want."

"Won't that be the dreaded domestic? You might end up somewhere with carpets."

"When you've lived in a dog tent for a year, carpets start seeming much less terrifying," the Doctor muttered darkly.

"What?"

"Long story. Besides stuck with you, it's not so bad, remember?" The Doctor smiled.

"Yeah?"

"Yes." Rose bumped the Doctor playfully with her shoulder. He reached over and took her hand in his as they walked out towards the road, twining their fingers together. "Do you really have an accent fetish?"

"No, Mum's being dramatic. You have a couple of high school crushes and suddenly it's 'a thing for Scottish accents.'" Rose rolled her eyes.

"Ah, but it's not Scottish. It's Gallifreyan. We were here first," the Doctor grinned.

"Terribly sorry, Sir Doctor."

"You are quite forgiven, Dame Rose."

They trudged along the beach in silence. Rose started thinking about all the things to tell him tomorrow. He was right - she just needed a good night's sleep. Everything else could wait.

"What did my mum say to you anyway?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest. She said I should say something to you, but it doesn't make any sense to me."

"What was it?"

"Murder."

The next day, the exhausted pair slept through the entire flight.

* * *

(For anyone wondering about the "murder", please reference this tumblr post.)


End file.
